Friday, February 18, 2011

Mephibosheth

2nd Samuel 9:12
“And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet.”


Why can’t I be in the red group for math? Those were the words I said through tears to my 4th grade teacher when she moved me away from my friends and into the low math group. Her answer, “It doesn’t matter what math group you are in. You won’t graduate from high school anyways!”...Me


Those words stung my heart and started me down a path of believing the life that I was not “good enough”. I was taught that God loved me and had an amazing plan for my life, but I really did not believe it. Then I read about the story of a man with a very funny name, Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth (say that three times fast!), was lame in both feet, handicapped, a burden. During his life he had to face many challenges, heartache and difficulties. Yet, he did not realize that the king of Israel was about to bless his life. King David, was the most powerful man in all of Israel, but he went out of his way to bless someone that others viewed as unworthy. Our King of kings, our great Lord almighty desires to do the same with our lives.


Have you ever been told that you were too fat, too skinny, to short, too tall, too young, too old. You may be, dealing with a handicap, the loss of a child, divorced, singleness, unable to have children, without a job or living with regret over past mistakes. We all face challenges and difficulties in our lives that make us feel unworthy to serve the Lord. We feel that there is no way that God could possibly use us, because the things that we cannot do for Him. But do we ever stop and think about the things that we can do for God. God does not look at our outsides, our limitations of our failures. He looks at His perfect creation (that’s you and me), and says, “I can use you, I want to use you”. Live in this truth and do not let anyone or anything stand in your way of serving our great King of kings and Lord of Lords!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Rachel

Seriously! Seriously! She is pregnant AGAIN!! How many times can one person get pregnant. Why God, Why! All I want it one child. I am not asking to have a litter of children like Leah and the rest of the ladies around here...but is one child too much to ask. It seems like every time I turn around we are having another baby shower for Leah. How many baby gifts do I have to make or buy from the market before it will be my turn to be a mother. I know Jacob says he loves me, but I see the disappointment in his eyes as year after year goes by without me giving him a child. What do I have to do for it to be my turn?

Read Genesis 29-30


Rachel longed for a child. She sat sadly and helplessly as her sister Leah had child, after child. Not only were Rachel and Leah sisters, but they were also both married to the same man, Jacob. Now don't be freaked out or think this is an episode of "Sister Wives", because that was the accepted practice in the Jewish culture in the Old Testament. Leah was Rachel's older sister. Since Jacob loved Rachel and wanted to marry Rachel, he had to marry Leah first in order to keep with Jewish culture. Rachel may have had the undying love of Jacob but what she really wanted was to be a mother like her older sister. After enduring many, many years of longing for a child, Rachel's prayers were finally answered and she gave birth to a son Joseph, and what a mighty man he turned out to be! If you want to read more about Joseph's life, Read from Genesis 39 to the end of the book.


Do you or are you feeling like Rachel? You may be feeling that everyone around you are just checking off their life goals and you are waiting to put down the first check mark. Are you single waiting for your spouse? Are you a wife waiting to become a mother? Or are you a mother of one who is feeling the pressure to expand you brood? The world and sometimes even the church define a “complete Christian” as one who is married and has two to three children. A woman that is single or childless or maybe just has one child, is many times made to feel that she is an incomplete Christian. It is the desire of most Christian women to be a wife and a mother, but that is not always God’s plan for their lives. The message that needs to be said loud and clear is simple. The Church and those in “Christian land” need not to dim the light of God’s amazing plan for these ladies’ lives by making them feel inadequate.